practical living
They’re not home free
Australia’s pension system assumes nearly
all older people own their residence; that’s
no longer true, and it’s having a big impact
on many seniors’ sense of wellbeing.
By Dallas Bastian and Andrew Bracey
A
ffordable housing is not just a
concern for younger Australians.
The issue was found to be the
most important factor in determining older
people’s wellbeing in a recent study.
The Benevolent Society’s Index of
Wellbeing for Older Australians – a report
that maps how older people are faring
nationally – found that older people in
many parts of Australia struggle to keep
a roof over their heads, damaging their
overall wellbeing.
Dr Kirsty Nowlan, The Benevolent
Society’s executive director of social policy
and advocacy, says the report smashes
the perception that affordable housing is
purely a young person’s worry. “Contrary
to popular belief, not all older people own
their homes.”
Study co-researcher professor Robert
Tanton, from the University of Canberra,
says older people who are still paying
rent are often doing so with government
benefits, leaving little else to live on if they
are in high-rent capital cities.
The report stated that unless
comprehensive strategies are created to
address housing affordability, Australia
will face a crisis of wellbeing among the
growing numbers of older people on low
incomes who don’t own a home.
Nowlan says: “Areas where there are
more people aged 65 and over paying
rent or still paying a mortgage are more
likely to be among the most disadvantaged
areas on the city fringes. This highlights the
urgent need for all levels of government,
business and the not-for-profit sector to
collaborate on the financing and supply of
more affordable and social housing.”
She explained the index would help
guide decisions on what type of policies
and services are needed and where they
should go. “If services and resources are
not targeted to the neediest areas at the
right time, there is a risk that the disparity
between high and low wellbeing of older
Australians will become increasingly wider.”
She says policy solutions are needed
to ensure older people have secure and
affordable housing and to provide supports
in communities to make them as agefriendly as possible.
“As rates of home ownership drop off,
we’re going to have much higher numbers
of people who are experiencing acute
amounts of housing stress,” she says. “We
know that our whole social service system,
particularly the pension and income
support for older Australians, is premised
on home ownership. It assumes that you
don’t need to use your pension to pay for
your housing. If we are to hold onto some
level of equity in Australia, and particularly
equity for older Australians and between
older Australians, then we need to think
about how to promote affordable housing,
or we’re going to end up with a crisis in
wellbeing in years to come.”
As for the wellbeing index, Nowlan
says that she was keen to further
develop the model to ensure it could
take greater account of the breadth of
Australia’s diversity.
“[This index currently] doesn’t break
down things for Indigenous Australians, it
doesn’t break down things by gender or for
the diversity of the Australian community,”
she says. “That’s largely because of
limitations in the data, but an index is a
relatively blunt tool.
“We need to find out about those
pieces of information to supplement
the contribution we’ve made through
commissioning the index. We’re committed
to doing that work, and we want to work
with others who are also engaged in that
investigative process.”
She added that UC’s National Centre for
Economic Modelling was already looking
into further investigation to make such
improvements possible. ■
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